Horizon
by andrella07
Summary: Aurora wants to know if her fairy godmother has ever tried to use magic to make herself new wings.
1. Horizon

**Horizon**

**Andrealla07**

**Rated: T (gore)**

**Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. I don't own the rights to "Maleficent" so please don't confuse me with Disney.  
><strong>

**This is currently a one-shot, pending further review on my part. Just a little something to get me back into fanfiction with the wonderful story that is "Maleficent". And I hope to dive into some Maleficent/Aurora stuff in the future, so if that's something you'd like, feel free to mention it. All mistakes are mine, but I do hope you enjoy.**

* * *

><p>"Do all the Fair-people have wings?"<p>

"Most do."

"Then why don't you? The other fairies fly."

Emerald green eyes darted across the forest floor, as if Maleficent weighed telling the truth against fallen leaves and acorns. The Beastie had a gentle curiosity about the world, and her fairy godmother was no exception. Thus far into their tentative friendship, Maleficent was growing accustomed to the young human's inquisitive nature and was far more likely to answer. With full sentences, even. But at this inquiry, Maleficent felt the stubs of her wings twitch across her shoulders. Her discomfort on the topic was plain.

"I had wings once. They were stolen from me," the fairy replied curtly. "That's all I wish to say about it."

Ever curious, Aurora pressed on, delicately. "What color were they? Were they big?"

As well-guarded as the Moors they were visiting, Maleficent's past lay entrapped in thorns large enough to stop a bear. But they were not thick enough to stop the passing of one, small, innocent girl.

"So big they dragged behind me when I walked, and they were strong," Maleficent answered, coasting on that pride that Aurora had brought out in her. "They could carry me above the clouds and into the headwinds. They never faltered, not even once. I could trust them."

"I've seen you heal trees, and you can turn Diaval into just about anything!" Aurora smiled and drew closer to her fairy godmother. She placed her hand on Maleficent, aware that even the lightest touch could send the fairy away. "Can you not make yourself new ones?"

Whatever joyful memory Maleficent had been living in was stripped from her as easily as she pulled her arm away from Aurora's palm. It was a logical question – for a human. Stefan had been much the same, believing there were few limitations to Maleficent's magic. She was this great and powerful fairy, skilled enough to defeat whole legions of armed men and able to make irrevocable curses. Could she not craft herself another set of capable wings?

"No, I cannot."

"Have you tried?" Aurora pushed once more.

Maleficent sighed at the girl and her endless questions. "Yes."

Somewhere close by, Diaval soared above the treetops in the Moors. He could hear everything spoken between the fairy and the human. The topic of Maleficent's wings was not something broached lightly. He remembered it all too well. Maleficent had just freed him of the farmer's net, and while he had seen the fairy before – he never remembered her looking so unwell and… different.

* * *

><p>In the decrepit remains of an ancient castle, Maleficent climbed the last few stairs to the uppermost point she could reach on two legs. She had made her bed here the night before, feeling the need to sleep high up. The mountain ash in which she usually made her home was out of the question. She wouldn't have her Fair-friends watching her try to climb the tree and fail. She wouldn't have them see her fall.<p>

Diaval cawed his encouragement, to spur the fairy over the final step. He could tell how she struggled to walk, even with the help of her staff which she leaned on heavily.

It was a strange thing to be missing two entire limbs. Maleficent's posture was forced to compensate for the lack of weight upon her back. Every other step toward a crumbling castle wall, she felt like she might pitch forward.

"Diaval, I need your help." Instead of a crutch, Maleficent used her stick to prod at some rubble nearby. The gnarled wood caught on something. The sound of metal scraping against stone echoed through the depths of lesser men's folly.

Before the crow could get a good look, he heard his mistress speak the words to change him into a more able body. "Into a man."

Diaval grunted and tripped over his new feet at the transformation. When he righted himself, he looked at the chain on the floor, and then back at Maleficent. The fairy set her staff against a wall and began to remove her heavy cloak.

"Mistress?"

Silently, Maleficent turned so that her back was facing her companion. Her slip was cut to reveal two, horrendously deformed wings – if they could be called that. It was clear that the misshapen and tiny appendages couldn't carry the lightest creature in flight. Wherever the lumps weren't coated in thin, black feathers, skin looked weak and bloody.

The fairy heard Diaval gasp, but if he said a _single _word about the ugliness of the abnormality, she would toss him from the castle as he was. Thankfully, birds were not as cruel as men. When the creature spoke, he did so with full intent to help.

"Mistress… I don't understand. What is it you want me to do?"

Maleficent took a deep breath. Her new wings were as painful as they were hideous, but she had to try.

"I want you to cut them off. Iron burns fairies," she explained, not for the first time. Maleficent glanced over her shoulder to see Diaval shrink away. The crow was too clever a bird not to comprehend what was asked of him now.

With the demanding stare of his mistress, Diaval walked forward and picked up the length of chain. As he approached Maleficent with it, he saw the metal color itself orange. It appeared as if it was touched with fire, but it didn't hurt Diaval to hold.

As soon as her skin began to sweat with the presence of iron, Maleficent turned her head away. There was no drug-induced sleep to save her from the blinding pain this time. The fairy braced for the heat, but it didn't come.

"I can't do this, Mistress."

The protector of the Moors turned on her companion. For an instant, she came out from behind the shadow of herself that Stefan had cultivated and gazed at Diaval like he wasn't worth the space he took up.

"You can," she barked, "and you will! I need you to do this, Diaval." Once again, Maleficent stared at the special spot on the wall she had picked to weather out the trauma. She couldn't reach well enough to rid herself of the magic-induced affliction, and she certainly couldn't hold the iron chain. She wished she didn't have to rely on another, but there was no other way. "Do it. Do it!" she rasped.

The sound of metal links being stretched tight and loosened was the last thing Maleficent remembered before the piercing sound of fresh screams. Through all the strain and fiery hurt, Maleficent shed but one tear. Although she was weak in the absence her wings and wounded by betrayal, she felt powerful to have survived this self-mutilation.

Maleficent smiled, and then laughed. Yes, despite what Stefan took from her, she had just as much control over her body as he did. She could be resilient in the face agony. She could overcome the fear. It was over now, she thought, as she fell to her knees.

It was over.

"One more, Mistress."

The fairy's laughter dropped into the dungeon of the castle, just like that. Maleficent found no pride in the other tears she shed as Diaval cut off the last wing.

Practically delirious with pain and teetering on the edge of madness, Maleficent hugged herself as Diaval dropped the chain on the floor. The heavy clang was followed by a whisper from her own lips.

"What have you done to my beautiful self?" she begged to know, mirroring the crow in his words earlier that day. She had been beautiful, hadn't she?

That night, the clouds separated and drifted away to reveal judgmental stars. Beneath their mocking loftiness, Maleficent got to her feet for the first time since the new injury. Her shoulders felt healed enough that she was left with a dull ache.

Diaval lifted his face from his hands and looked up from his chilly corner. He watched his mistress regain her feet and almost smiled. She was a resilient, proud creature, and he hated to see her in such pain. He couldn't comprehend the loss of wings, but he did share her love of flight. The happy thoughts that graced him, vanished the second Maleficent brought up her wrist. Glowing, green magic swirled around her hand – and Diaval immediately stood.

"Mistress, don't!"

Maleficent threw a wicked look at the bird-man. "You do not get to tell me what to do."

Diaval bobbed his head in acknowledgement of the trouble he was in and grimaced. "Mistress," he pleaded quietly. "I beg you not to do this again…. You've been through enough."

Arched eyebrows and pursed lips were frozen in distaste. She flexed her fingers once and the magic grew stronger. Diaval's warnings didn't go heeded, made clear by the growing discomfort upon the fairy's back. The magic was as green and bright as young grass, but it only left the smell of decay in its wake.

Maleficent walked to the edge of the castle, where one wall had completely fallen away into the valley below. She could feel the failure as it weighed on her shoulders. She tried to stretch the wings once – and grit her teeth. Maleficent had hope that she could forge herself wings like she had before. Strong, trust-worthy wings that could carry her away. She had planned to leap from the destruction….

Insulted by the empty air, Maleficent went to Diaval again. "I won't try another time," she promised quietly. No combination of willpower and magic could replace the wings that were unique to her. They were massive, beautiful, and the most rich, golden brown. And they were gone forever.

* * *

><p>Maleficent tried keep her love alive, and it betrayed her. She attempted to make herself new wings, and she couldn't do it. Broken by a wonderful spirit, she tried to lift Aurora's curse, and she couldn't do that either.<p>

Sometimes... when the wind blew past the tall creature of the Moors just right, she could still feel her wings. Maleficent would shudder against the ghostly sensation of feathers that were not there moving in a breeze that tortured her. Thankfully, there was no wind tonight. Step after step, she lead Aurora back toward the border of thorns, toward the cursed horizon.


	2. Beyond

**Here's the second part, since I couldn't leave the first that dang sad. Have some sap to soothe the pain.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>"Do you miss them?"<p>

Maleficent's nose twitched against the grass that was tickling her as she laid in the middle of a meadow with Aurora. How on Earth the Beastie had gotten her in such position was beyond her. Maybe it had to do a little with the promise Maleficent made to herself. In the last days she had left to truly live, the fairy would deny her nothing. Not even attempting to take a nap with Aurora beside her.

As for what she missed, Maleficent knew exactly what the Beastie was talking about. Her wings had become a topic of wonder for the girl, and they had just spent quite some time talking about what it was like to fly.

"Beastie, you could not comprehend how much." She didn't mean to sound condescending and hoped that the soft way she said Aurora's nickname made up for that. "Aside from taking to the sky, I miss the weight of them – the warmth. I miss wrapping them around myself… and feeling…"

Safe, she thought, but the word wouldn't come forth. Maleficent closed her eyes once more and listened to the sound of grass rustling in the wind. In the heat of the sun, she realized that she didn't deserve to feel safe. She might not have taken the same path as Stefan, but she was just as much the monster.

Suddenly, the rustling of grass wasn't from a breeze and the warmth across Maleficent's back wasn't from the sun. "Aurora?" the fairy whispered timidly. "What are you doing?"

"I'm being your wings."

Aurora's statement hit her flat in the stomach. Maleficent struggled to breathe as one of the Beastie's arms folded itself gently around her waist. Aurora… being her wings… was there anything more preposterous and wonderful? Maleficent didn't think so.

It wasn't easy for the fairy to lay there without moving. Once, she thought she felt a shoulder twitch. The next minute, she felt her eyes burn. Possibly from staring out at the Moors for too long; possibly from the instinct to cry.

Aurora was heavy and warm against her back. She could feel the Beastie's heart and listen to her breathe. By the all the past protectors of the Moors, in this moment, Aurora made her feel whole.

That tender voice pricked Maleficent's ears and got her to open her eyes again. "Are you really going to let me stay with you in the Moors after tomorrow?"

"Of course," the fairy rasped, nearly sputtering at the lie.

"I can't wait for tomorrow then."


End file.
